Lafayette Lawyers

Private Practice in real estate and business law for 40 years. Court and private mediator for 25 years. AV Rated and Northern California Super Lawyer.

Porrino Law PC operates under the guidance of principal Dominic H. Porrino, who entered law practice with the intention of protecting the assets and safety of citizens by helping them negotiate the complexities of the California legal system. The competitive spirit that prompted him to play lacrosse and rugby in his youth now drives development of strategies to protect the best interests of his clients.

Mr. Porrino, an attorney whose practice encompasses legal separation, divorce, child custody and support, estate planning and other civil matters, obtained his law degree from Golden Gate University School of Law and was admitted to the...

With more than 40 years of legal experience, Andrew Schwartz has handled countless cases for clients ranging from serious injuries and personal injury to product liability law at Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook. A 1975 graduate from the University of San Francisco School of Law, Mr. Schwartz has been admitted to the Federal and California Bars and the U.S. Supreme Court. Throughout his legal career, he’s achieved numerous multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements for injured clients, including a $5.6 million jury verdict that was considered one of the top 100 jury verdicts in California in 2017. In addition to holding memberships...

Thomas M. O'Connor is a founding partner of the firm and currently focuses his practice on Criminal Defense and Personal Injury. As a partner in OâConnor, Runckel & O'Malley LLP, Mr. O'Connor regularly litigates personal injury and wrongful death actions and defends clients in all misdemeanor and felony matters. Mr. O'Connor is a 5th generation San Francisco native and comes from a long line of distinguished attorneys. His grandfather and namesake, Thomas Martin O'Connor, held the office of City Attorney of San Francisco from 1961 until he retired in 1977. His great-grandfather, also Thomas Martin O'Connor, was...

Throughout her legal career, Vanessa has practiced exclusively in family law. With her legal training and knowledge, she provides compassion and advocacy for her clients. Vanessa’s experience working on a broad spectrum of family law matters include divorce, pre-divorce counseling and planning, premarital agreements, complex marital property issues, high conflict child custody disputes, child and spousal support issues and domestic violence prevention and defense. Vanessa protects her clients’ assets and the best interests of her clients and their children. She represents clients in public court and before private judicial officers. In addition, she serves as a consulting attorney for clients...

Michael J. Young is an Estate, Probate and Asset Protection Attorney in Walnut Creek, CA. Mr. Young helps his clients plan for not only "What Happens if You Die", but for "What Happens If You Don't Die And Become Ill and Need Care." He helps his clients in the design of their estate plans, to protect their assets for their senior care and to also provide a legacy for their loved ones.

Mr. Young, who has been in practice for over forty years, gives workshops every month in Walnut Creek on basic estate planning and advanced estate planning. The basic...

Attorney John Fetto was born in New York, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles. He then went on to earn his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings, where he specialized in trial advocacy. Mr. Fetto is a member of the Consumer Attorneys of California, the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, and the Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association. It did not take Attorney Fetto long to realize that his passion was personal injury law, and he has been representing clients for 26 years. During this time,...

As an San Francisco Bay Area labor and employment attorney at Littler Mendelson, I represent employers in all phases and types of employment litigation (e.g., wage and hour class actions, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, misclassification, wrongful termination, etc.), provide advice and counsel to employers regarding their employment practices and policies, and create and present customized workplace trainings and presentations unique to employers' goals and company culture. My professional experiences outside of the realm of law are rooted in business, management, and accounting.

Richard is a USPTO Registered Patent Attorney who loves helping creative people realize their dreams. Rich received his BA from Princeton University, then completed his Physics coursework at San Francisco State University. Rich received his J.D. with Honors & Certified in Intellectual Property from the University of Oregon School of Law. Rich has practiced in patent prosecution, patent litigation and military law, having served as an Army JAG Corps Captain stateside and overseas. Many lawyers call themselves "i.p. lawyers," but few are truly Registered with the USPTO, licensed to secure you your patent or ® Trademark. Look...

Ms. Benedetto has assisted hundreds of clients with the creation of their Wills, Living Trusts and other estate planning documents. She assists families with trust administration and probate procedures when loved ones pass away, and also prepares legal documents for conservatorships of elderly clients and limited conservatorships for developmentally disabled adults. In 2006, Ms. Benedetto created the Family Trust Law Center, later incorporated to Family TLC, Inc., to be a firm where families come for professional estate planning by licensed attorneys, at flat, reasonable fees. Amendment of documents and other hourly work is done as...

Joe Appel has specialized in personal injury cases for more than 30 years. He’s seen it, tried it, and won it, both in state and federal courts. Joe graduated from St. Mary’s College of California, Moraga, California in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He also played basketball for the Galloping Gaels for four years. At graduation Joe received the Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. He then attended and graduated from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1979. Joe was admitted to the California and Federal Courts in the same year. He has been a member...

Mr. Williams is the founder of The Williams Firm and has over 21 years of extensive experience in the areas of real estate, construction, business and corporate law. Mr. Williams' practice areas include all aspects of civil litigation and dispute resolution in all courts, government hearings, arbitrations and mediations in the areas of real estate, construction and business law. Mr. Williams also represents and advises clients in business transactions, corporate law, real property transactions, and trademark law. In real estate matters he has represented owners and developers of residential and commercial properties, including multi-million dollar properties, negotiated sales...

Crabtree Law PC is a full service, bi-lingual (SPANISH), family law firm dedicated to delivering personal, practical, and effective representation at an affordable cost. We are conveniently located in Walnut Creek, California. Attorney Maria Crabtree received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Communications from the University of California at Davis. She later returned to the University of California, Davis and earned her J.D. degree. As a sole practitioner, Ms. Crabtree is dedicated to helping families navigate through the complexities of the laws and policies that rule family law issues. Dissolution of marriage (divorce), child custody...

We are dedicated to the practice of Immigration and Naturalization Law exclusively, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Te: 925-407-2149 Services include: Family immigration law: marriage and fiance visas, family petitions, waivers of unlawful presence, green cards. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Original Applications and Renewals) Business Immigration law: visas to work and/or invest (HB, TN, E investor visas, employment-based green cards. Visas for athletes and entertainers. LGBT Immigration law: visas and petitions for same sex couples. Citizenship and Naturalization. Languages: English, Spanish Marcela Knaup is a bilingual Spanish-English attorney. www.knauplegal.com Marcela@knauplegal.com Te: ...

Attorney Adam M. Carlson is managing partner at Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook. While he is skilled in various areas of law, he focuses the majority of his practice handling cases related to wrongful death, civil rights, and personal injury. He believes that tailoring each case to each client’s needs is key to providing aggressive and compassionate legal representation.

Before joining the firm, Carlson served as an intake assistant for our team, where he was responsible for fielding calls from potential clients. It was at this time that Carlson decided he wanted to do more. He found that he was passionate...

Joseph A. Motta was born and raised in the East Bay. He attended St. Mary’s College and graduated in 1984. He graduated from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento in 1987. Joe’s legal career started as a Deputy District Attorney in Contra Costa County; from 1988 to 2004. There, he handled thousands of cases. He was a trial attorney on every team including Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Homicide. He supervised the Misdemeanor, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault Teams; as a supervisor, he maintained his own load of serious cases. As a deputy D.A., Joe prosecuted a number of high...

In my early years as a financial planner, I realized that estate planning was an often-overlooked area of planning not only by clients but by their financial advisors. The reason I became an attorney was to help people make sure that their wishes are carried out during incapacity and after death. I had seen too many people impacted by the lack of estate planning or poor estate planning. I did not want to see the government or the courts take control of a person's property in a way that was not consistent with the person's wishes and intent. I am passionate...

Stephen offers experienced business and legal counseling to individuals and corporations throughout the Bay Area, including: (1) Business litigation and dispute resolution services involving misappropriation of trade secrets, non-compete/solicitation agreements, mechanics lien and payment bond claims, commercial leases, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent misrepresentation and unfair, unlawful or fraudulent business practices (Bus. & Prof. C. sec. 17200); (2) Construction contracting; (3) Intellectual Property licensing and distribution; and (4) E-commerce, website terms of use, privacy policies and data protection and security.

Jenny Tiu received her B.S. degree in Physiological Science from UCLA. During her undergraduate studies, she was a research assistant at UCLA for both spinal cord injury and atherosclerosis research. Ms. Tiu then earned her J.D. degree at Golden Gate University School of Law with an emphasis in Public Interest Law. During law school, she interned for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office in the Juvenile Dependency Unit. She then went on to intern for the Solano County Alternate Public Defender's Office in the Juvenile Dependency Unit and later in the Misdemeanor Unit. After being...

My law practice focuses on representing injury and death victims and their families. Many of my cases have involved personal injury, car accidents, accidental death, wrongful death, truck accidents, big-rig accidents, motorcycle accidents, products liability, defective products, dog bites, nursing home injuries, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, and dangerous property. I have been highly successful in favorably resolving my clients' cases and obtaining monetary compensation for my clients for over 22 years. My clients have suffered catastrophic injuries, death of a family member, serious injuries requiring hospitalization or surgery and many other types of injuries including coma, brain injuries, quadriplegia, triplegia, loss of...

MANJULA MARTIN is a criminal defense attorney at Lamano Law Office. Prior to her work with LLO, she clerked for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office where she worked on domestic violence cases, sexual assault crimes, and felony preliminary hearings. She received the Cali Excellence Award for Criminal Litigation in 2008 and helped draft a presentation that was used at an international conference on identifying and combatting Human Trafficking. It was during this tenure that she realized that her true passion in helping people.

Ms. Martin went on to represent low-income women seeking to leave abusive situations in...

Mr. Cross is an expert in the field of criminal law. Mr. Cross will fight more aggressively than anyone to bring you the best outcome possible. He passionately cares about defending his clients and does everything within his power to help them. Having attended the University of California, Berkeley for Undergraduate studies, he received a B.A. in Legal Studies. He subsequently attended the prestigious San Francisco Law School to receive his J.D. He is a member of many associations, including the State Bar Association, the Alameda County Car Association, the San Mateo County Bar Association and the Delta Theta Phi...

For more than 30 years, Mike Appel has devoted his practice exclusively to personal injury and wrongful death cases. He represents clients throughout California, both in State and Federal courts. Born and raised in Redondo Beach, Mike attended St. Mary’s College of California, Moraga, California, where he majored in English. He was an editor of the college’s literary magazine, "The Phoenix." He also played rugby for the Gaels, and was a member of the team that went on the first annual rugby tour of the East Coast. Mike received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1970. At graduation he also received...

Shahrad Milanfar is a Trial Attorney and Mediator who has focused his career on serious personal injury, automotive, asbestos and other types of product liability, transportation/ trucking, and habitability cases. Since the beginning of his career, Shahrad has worked on catastrophic injury cases such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), serious orthopedic injuries, including quadriplegia and paraplegia.

Shahrad gained his trial and courtroom experience while working with the district attorney’s office and as a civil trial attorney. He has handled cases form inception to verdict as the primary trial attorney. Over the past 20+ years, Shahrad has managed serious personal injury and...

Mr. Poulin is experienced in the areas of real estate, business, and construction litigation. He has trial experience in both state and Federal court, and has experience in all aspects of dispute resolution. Mr. Poulin has successfully represented clients in broker disputes, foreclosures, neighbor disputes, title insurance coverage, fraud, breach of contract, breach of lease and landlord-tenant issues. Real estate issues include construction defect cases, damages on behalf of contractors, subcontractors, architects and engineers in mechanic's liens, stop notice, payment and performance bond actions. Prior to joining The Williams Firm, Mr. Poulin was an associate at the law...

I have litigated many contract disputes. I taught the law of contracts at JFK University Law School for ten years. I know contracts from the practical as well as the academic point of view.

Attorney with over 30 years of experience representing clients in Divorce and Family Law matters. Certified Specialist in Family Law, certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. My practice includes representation in all areas of divorce and family law, including child custody; child visitation; child support; spousal support ; division of community property (including high value assets); annulment; paternity; and drafting marital settlement agreements. I am also available to provide limited scope representation or consultation for self-represent parties. Representing clients throughout Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.

Karen S. Fenchel

Professional Biography

Karen Fenchel is a sole practitioner in Walnut Creek, CA. She is a Certified Family Law Specialist and has focused on all areas of family law. Her practice is settlement oriented and includes both family law mediation and collaborative law. Karen has a strong commitment to helping clients resolve issues without going to court. She utilizes her training in both mediation and collaborative practice to assist families in crisis and help them gain control of their lives. Through mediation, collaborative process and negotiated settlements, she works toward equitable solutions that consider the...

After 22 years as a trial attorney, I have decided to limit my practice to furthering the cause of disability access and ending disability discrimination in the workplace, at home and in public places. If you are disabled temporarily or permanently, you have special rights but no government agency to enforce them. If you think you have been the victim of discrimination, call us now for a free consultation.

Michael Geller grew up in San Francisco, CA. He attended the University of Southern California for his undergraduate studies, the City University of New York for his medical training, and Santa Clara University School of Law for his legal education. Michael started his legal career as an intern at the Solano County District Attorney's Office. He was later trained by a Certified Family Law Specialist. He then opened The Geller Firm to help with Family Law.

GinnLaw, P.C. emphasizes real property and construction law. We assist clients with construction and real estate matters, including mechanic's liens, stop payment notices, payment bonds, home improvement contracts, construction contracts, payment disputes, defective work claims, delay claims, public works construction claims, private commercial and residential disputes, partition actions, easements, quiet title actions, purchase and sales, disclosures associated with sale of property, leasing, lease disputes, and assistance to small businesses. David Ginn has been an attorney for over thirty-five years. He is the President of GinnLaw, P.C., a professional corporation. Mr. Ginn is one of the authors of...

Attorney Jessica Ward has been in the legal industry for over 15 years. She started as a paralegal, then a legal administrator at a busy workers' compensation defense law firm. In 2016 she decided to start her own legal document preparation company, which focused on estate planning, family law and deed preparation. During the COVID pandemic, she was re-evaluating her career goals, and had the opportunity to achieve her ultimate goal of attending law school. She graduated summa cum laude with honors and was sworn in and licensed in California to practice law. She is passionate about every family having...

Mark Venardi was born in 1962 in Seattle, Washington. He was raised in Peoria, IL, a Midwest blue collar town. He enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and proudly served from 1980 through 1985. He spent the first two years on a sea going tug performing search and rescue and marine law enforcement from the Grand Banks to the Windward Passage aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa, which was the Coast Guard vessel that performed the rescue in “The Perfect Storm.”

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25 years representing Bay Area Families in the areas of estate planning, trust administration, probate, and estate litigation. Her unique blend of experience as a litigator and estate planning attorney, provides her with the ability to effectively manage all aspects of family wealth planning. She has been involved with the preparation and trial of hundreds of cases, representing Fortune 500 companies, individuals, and fiduciaries. In addition, she has extensive experience advising clients in creating estate plans to meet family and philanthropic goals.